System and method for online offer and bid management with sealed bids

ABSTRACT

A network computer system and method in which a manufacturer or service provider may communicate goods or services which are available for bidding by bidders. The bids received from the bidders are intended to be sealed bids, and most often to be single instance sealed bids. The invention collects the sealed bids from the bidders and maintains them as inaccessible from the traders and online system administration staff until certain conditions, such as expiration of a bidding time window, have been met. Following the meeting of the predetermined conditions, the bids are unsealed, either by administrator command or automatically, and made available and accessible to the traders and system administration staff. The system and method prevents potential security and confidentiality problems with online sealed bid systems, and protects the integrity of the sealed bid collection process.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates generally to electronic commerceand more particularly to conducting an interactive offering and bidcollection over a computer network wherein bids are kept sealed untilthe bidding is closed.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] Prior to the advent of electronic auctioning over computernetworks or electronic commerce, auctions were held in a group ofgathered bidders with an auctioneer. As shown in FIG. 1, an auction (1)is conducted on behalf of a seller (2) by an auctioneer (4). Theauctioneer receives a list of items to be sold and possibly a minimumand/or or reserve price for those items. During the auction, a pluralityof bidders (6) place bids (5) under the guidance and control of theauctioneer (4). In some cases, multiple bidders (9) may pool (8) theirbids, and the pooled bids (7) are submitted as a single bid with acombined quantity to the auctioneer (4).

[0005] The auctioneer enforces the rules of the auction, such as minimumbid price and quantities, minimum bid incrementing from the previous bidfor a new bid, and time limits for placing bids. Auction bidders aretypically qualified as to their ability to complete the purchase shouldtheir bid be the winning bid prior to entering the auction room.

[0006] Many online auctioning systems such as “priceline.com” and“mercata.com” have become very popular for individuals and businesses touse to take advantage of auctions at which they cannot be physicallypresent. Such e-commerce auctions or online auctions are usuallyconducted over a specified period of time of opening and closing forbids, and are typically conducted under one of several well-known setsof rules or models. These common models include “Dutch” auctions,progressive auctions, “Yankee” auctions, single-bid auction, sealed bidauctions, reserve auctions, and hybrids of these types of auctions.

[0007] However, most sales offering and bid systems conducted bymanufacturers of goods or service providers are conducted under adifferent set of procedures and processes. Turning to FIG. 2, a typicaltrader and broker system for offering and accepting bids is shown (20).In such a business-to-business (“B2B”) offering and bidding process(20), a manufacturer or service provider (21) will notify one or moretraders (24) of available products or services, quantities, and minimumacceptable bid values (22). The trader then provides offerings (23′) toone or more brokers (25), to which the brokers may respond with bids(23).

[0008] In some cases, bids may be accepted for either partial lots orwhole lots of offered products. These offerings (23′) and thecorresponding bids (23) are collected by the trader, and the trader (24)makes a decision of which bids to accept. The traders (24) subsequentlyrespond to the manufacturer or service provider (21) with actual ordersor purchases (22).

[0009] Although the B2B offering and bid acceptance process may beconducted similarly to an auction, it is not an auction in the strictsense in that the order fulfillment, or bid acceptance, process isconducted usually by the trader at his discretion. For example, under atypical auction process, the highest qualified bidder may be defined asthe bid winner. However, in a B2B offering and bid collection system,the trader may favor the second or third highest bid over the highestbid for the fact that the broker placing the second or third highest bidhas preferred business arrangements, such as a longer history ofpurchasing from the trader or a history of larger volume purchases withthe trader.

[0010] In the related application, a system and method was disclosedwhich allows filtered information to be used in offerings which areprovided to brokers for their bids. The system and method allowed aparticular trader or group of traders to filter information from largercomprehensive lists of available goods or items from a manufacturer orservice provider and to produce offerings which only show the neededinformation for a particular broker to which to respond. This systemprotects the supplier of the goods from disseminating information tobrokers which is irrelevant to the broker's entitlement to bid, or whichmight indicate a larger view or position understanding of the supplier'soverall stock of an item.

[0011] Some processes of offering and collecting bids in B2B salestransactions are conducted in a single bidding process. In a single-bidprocess, each bidder is allowed to bid once on a particular item orcommodity, unlike the auctioning process whereby each bidder is allowedto raise his previous bid to beat a current bid. Typically, a single-bidsystem of offering involves “sealed bids.”

[0012] Sealed bids are intended to protect the confidentiality of thesingle bids which are placed earlier by other bidders from being seen ordisseminated to the brokers or bidders who bid later. If the bids werenot sealed, and information about the earlier bids were communicated tolater bidding brokers, then the later bidding brokers would be able tobeat the earlier bids but just by a minimal amount. This results in twoproblems, the first of which is that it does not produce the highestpossible bid from the winning bidder or broker. In a situation where thebrokers are unsure of what the other brokers will bid, a broker isencouraged to place his highest possible bid since he only has onechance to bid. The second problem is that if the sealed bids arecommunicated to the later bidding brokers, the later bidding broker willhave an unfair advantage to beat the bid of the earlier bidding brokers.

[0013] In traditional manual systems of sealed bids, bids are physicallysealed in envelopes and are not opened until the bidding period isclosed. This is intended to physically ensure that the earlier receivedbids are kept confidential and sealed until all bids have been received.However, in online trading systems and online auctioning systems of thecurrent technology, most systems actually display the current highestbid. Other systems which provide for a single bid process to do notprotect the electronic bid from being viewed by system administratorsand internal personnel of the online bidding system operator.

[0014] Thus, there is the potential for internal personnel or systemadministrators to transfer or “leak” information about earlier receivedbids to brokers or bidders who have not yet bid. This may result, then,in a similar situation and similar disadvantages to the manual processof single sealed bids as described before.

[0015] Since electronic bids are more difficult to keep confidential andsealed, and since most users of online systems are aware of “hackers,”many customers are reluctant to employ an online bidding system andonline auctioning system that does not ensure through reliable methodsthat the sealed bids will remain confidential until bidding is closed.

[0016] Therefore, there is a need in the art for an online offering andbid collection system which provides a secure mechanism to collectonline bids, and to keep those bids secure or sealed until certainconditions have been met, such as the expiration of a bidding timewindow. Further, there is a need in the art for this online sealed bidsystem to support or to integrate easily into existing online bidsystems, such as the one disclosed in the related application.

[0017] Brokers typically buy on speculation and sell to end users.Brokers may sell to multiple retailers of products or services, or theymay represent a single large retailer of a product or service.

[0018] Traders are typically commissioned sales professionals, and thestructure of their commissions may vary depending on the quantities andthe commodities or category of products being sold.

[0019] According to industry terminology, “Reseller Master Agreements”usually govern what a broker may purchase, which are enforced by theindividual traders. For example, a particular broker may only haverights to purchase given commodities or categories of products within acertain geographical zone or region as defined by his Reseller MasterAgreement with the manufacturer or service provider.

[0020] Further, traders may be restricted to handling specificcommodities or categories of products and also may be restricted tocertain localities. For example, a trader may specialize in furniturefrom a particular manufacturer, and may not be authorized to handlecarpets or other textiles from the same manufacturer. This trader'sexpertise in furniture allows him to focus his knowledge andunderstanding into the market place for furniture. A trader may also berestricted as to the locality or geographical region in which hisbrokers may purchase gods, such as Europe, North America, or even morespecific such as a particular state or city.

[0021] Thus, a particular broker may receive offers from multipletraders who represent a particular manufacturer or service provider. Forexample, a broker that represents a chain of computer stores may receivecomputer memory offerings from a first trader, software upgrade offersfrom a second trader, and peripheral offers from yet a third trader, allof whom represent the same manufacturer. In response, this broker maybid for products or services in different categories, and must submitthose bids to different traders based on the traders' commodities orcategories of products that each trader handles.

[0022] As such, it is desirable not to present information to thetraders or brokers which is irrelevant to the products or commoditiesfor which they are entitled to purchase under their Reseller MasterAgreement. For example, certain brokers and traders may be associatedwith geographical regions which are not allowed to receive certainproducts or services from the manufacturer because of regulatory orexport controls. Additionally, certain contractual restrictions betweenthe manufacturer and the trader or other traders and other brokers mayestablish territorial boundaries regarding products and services handledby the brokers and traders. Further, even though a broker may beentitled to receive offers for a particular product or service, it maynot be desirable to indicate to that broker the total quantity availablefrom the manufacturer, as having this knowledge may not encourage thebroker to place his highest possible bid for the product or service.

[0023] Therefore, the available online auctioning systems are notappropriate in such B2B offering and bid collection systems. First, theavailable online auctioning systems represent a full auction under whichcertain rules dictate which bids will be automatically accepted, so thesystem provides offerings of available quantities, bid collection, bidrule enforcement, bid fulfillment, and bid acceptance functions underthe rules of the auction. Consequently, as previously discussed, B2Bofferings and bid collections are not executed under such strict rules.Further, the available online auction systems are particularly adaptedto placement of orders by multiples of bidders or pooled bidders, and donot favor the traditional interaction between traders and brokers. And,most online auctioning systems provide information as to last top bid(“bid to beat”) and total quantities of goods available.

[0024] As such, the available online auction systems do not allow forthe restriction and filtering of information which is conveyed from theoffering party to the offered party to eliminate the presentation ofinformation which is not relevant to the offered party's Reseller MasterAgreement. This may not protect the confidentiality of total quantitiesavailable from the offering party, and may compromise the ability of theoffering party to obtain the best possible bids for the goods offered.

[0025] Therefore, there is a need in the art for an onlinebusiness-to-business offering and bid collection system which issuitable for offering manufactured goods and/or services to potentialpurchasers or brokers. There is a need in the art for this system toprovide for filtering or restriction of information about the offeredgood to such potential purchasers or brokers such that confidentialityrequirements, regulatory and territorial requirements can be met.

[0026] Additionally, there is a need in the art for this system to berobust, dependable, secure, and adaptable for use with a wide array ofmanufactured goods such as electronics, consumer products, clothing andtextiles, other large volume purchase goods, as well as real-time tradedcommodities such as electric power, water, and telecommunications anddata communications bandwidth.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0027] The following detailed description when taken in conjunction withthe figures presented herein provide a complete disclosure of theinvention.

[0028]FIG. 1 discloses the well-known arrangement of sellers,auctioneers, and bidders.

[0029]FIG. 2 shows the common business arrangement betweenmanufacturers, service providers, traders, and brokers.

[0030]FIG. 3 shows the structure of offerings under the preferredembodiment.

[0031]FIG. 4 shows a broker profile matrix.

[0032]FIG. 5 shows a generalized system architecture of the invention.

[0033]FIG. 6 sets forth the preferred embodiment of the system of theinvention.

[0034]FIG. 7 illustrates the logical flow of the process of restrictinga trader's access, as well as other online system personnel's access, tosealed bids in an online offering and bid collection system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0035] In order to address the aforementioned needs in the art, thepresent invention provides a network computer arrangement and method inwhich a manufacturer or service provider may communicate goods orservices which are available for bidding. The system and method allowstraders to offer those goods or services in offerings to brokers inresponse to which the brokers may place bids. In this system and method,the bids received from the broker are intended to be sealed bids, andmost often intended to be single instance sealed bids. The system andmethod collects the sealed bids from the brokers, and keeps the bidsinaccessible from the brokers, traders and other system operationspersonnel until certain conditions have been met. Following the meetingof the predetermined conditions, the bids are automatically unsealed andmade available and accessible to the traders. In this way, the systemand method prevents potential security and confidentiality problems withonline sealed bid systems, and protects the integrity of the sealed bidcollection process.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0036] It will be recognized by those skilled in the art that certaincombinations and integrations of the features presented herein may bemade without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.Further, it will be recognized that many of the architectural detailsdisclosed herein are disclosed under the inventor's preferred embodimentin order to enhance the robustness and reliability of the invention, butthese details may not be necessary to realize the fundamentalfunctionality of the invention.

[0037] Throughout the disclosure given herein and the following claims,the term “broker” is used to describe a bidding party or bidder, and theterm “trader” is used to describe a party who conducts the process ofpromoting offers to bidding parties. This is nearly analogous to bidderand auctioneer in the context of a traditional auction, respectively,although the offering and bidding process provided by the invention maybe used to conduct business-to-business offers as well as traditionaltypes of auctions.

[0038] General Description of the Interactive Offering System

[0039] The following general description of the Interactive OfferingSystem (“IOS”) is summarized from the related application. Turning toFIG. 3, broker offerings (30) are comprised of one or more sets ofmaterials (or services) associated with location and category codepairs. Typically, locations are related to geographical zones or regionssuch as countries, continents, or sales regions. Categories aretypically related to products, product lines, or services such ascomputers, hard drives, monitors, minutes of long-distance, megabytes oftransmission or other types of services and products. As such, anoffering (30) which is presented to a broker contains only materials orservices which are being made available to that broker for which thelocation and category code meet his broker profile. And, the offeringmay include materials for a combination of brokers. For example as shownin FIG. 3, an offering to a European broker may be comprised of a firstmaterial code pair such as location-Europe, and category=power supply,(31). It may also contain additional materials with associated locationand category pairs, such as location=Europe andcategory=computer_monitor, and location=Germany andcategory=Deutsche_AIX_operating system. It may also include a secondmaterial, such as location=Europe and category=computer_monitor.

[0040] A broker profile matrix is disclosed in FIG. 4. For each broker,a broker profile matrix is defined, which is a two-dimensional table forlocation and category in this preferred embodiment. It will berecognized, however, by those skilled in the art that such a brokerprofile matrix may be multidimensional beyond the two-dimensionalexample shown, or single dimensional. In this example of FIG. 4, thelocations are indexed against the plurality of categories, and then alogical enabler, such as a Boolean flag, is recorded for eachcombination of location and category pairs. A profile matrix defines the“entitlement” for a particular broker. Available products or serviceswhich match the location-category parameter pairs in a broker'sentitlement profile matrix are made available to that broker, andproducts and services which do not meet the parameters of the profilematrix are not presented for bidding to that broker. For example in FIG.4, the completed profile matrix for a hypothetical broker defines thatthe broker who is entitled to receive offerings for category_(—)1products in location_(—)1 and location_(—)3, and for category_(—)2products only in location_(—)1, and for category_Y products only inlocation_(—)1. The hypothetical broker of this example is not authorizedor entitled to receive offerings for any other location-categoryparameter pair.

[0041] Turning to FIG. 5 in which the general architecture of the systemof the invention is shown, the Interactive Offer Server (“IOS”) (51) isassociated with an offering database (52). The offering system (50) isincluded in the larger architecture (59) which includes the brokers'consoles (58), the administrator console (56), and the traders' consoles(54). All consoles and the interactive offering server may communicateeither as an integrated package within one computer system, or asseparate computer systems integrated and communicating over a computernetwork such as the internet.

[0042] In the general architecture of FIG. 5, the manufacturer orservice provider's goods availability list (55) is received by thetrader consoles (54). The trader then creates proposed offerings byfiltering the availability list against the broker profile matrices (40)for his broker(s). Those proposed offerings are input into the offeringdatabase (52), which are then retrieved by the administrator using hisadministrator console (56).

[0043] The administrator then authorizes the proposed offerings andmakes a note or change in the offering database records to indicate suchauthorization.

[0044] During the open bidding process, the brokers may use theirconsoles, such as web browser personal computers (58), to retrieve theirofferings, and to submit bids via the IOS (51). When a broker makescontact with the interactive offering server, his identity is firstverified by an Authentication Server (57), according to the preferredembodiment.

[0045] In response to the broker's request for products or servicesofferings, the IOS queries the offering database (52) and presents thebroker with offerings which contain items to which he or she isentitled. An authentication server (57) is included in the preferredembodiment so as to allow the interactive offering server toauthenticate the broker prior to presenting any offerings to the broker.As such, the general architecture (59) as shown in FIG. 5 provides eachbroker with one or more offerings which have been authorized and whichhave been filtered only to show available materials or services on whichhe is entitled to bid.

[0046] Turning to FIG. 6, the detailed organization of the systemaccording to the preferred embodiment is shown. According to thepreferred embodiment, a sales preparation system (60) comprising an IBMLotus Notes system provides available materials list to the traders viatheir trader consoles (61), which are networked personal computers alsorunning Lotus Notes applications. These available materials lists couldalternatively be simple text file lists or spreadsheets, as well asdatabase records. Alternatively, the trader consoles (61) may bededicated computer consoles, web browser computers, or other appropriatecomputer user interface devices such as wireless web browsers.

[0047] The trader console then filters the available materials list foreach broker profile or entitlement schema for the trader's brokers, andprepares proposed broker offerings to be stored in the IOS productionserver (62). The entitlement profile or broker profile (63) is alsoavailable to the IOS production server (62) for verification of thetrader's proposed offerings.

[0048] An administrator may use an administrator's console (64) to querythe database of the IOS production server (62) to retrieve and review atrader's proposed offerings. He may authorize all or some of theproposed offerings, and place those authorized offerings in the IOSdatabase for replication to the IOS staging server (65).

[0049] Posting of the authorized offerings to the IOS staging server(65) is preferably done by a Lotus Notes replicator function. As boththe IOS production server (62) and staging server (65) are based on IBMLotus Notes systems in the preferred embodiment, the replicator is anatural function of Lotus Notes which is easily incorporated andmaintained. An IBM Lotus Enterprise Integrator (“LEI”), formerly knownas “Notes Pump”, then prepares a DB2 database file (66) from the IOSstaging server (65).

[0050] Further according to the preferred embodiment, all of thesepreviously described systems and components and processes are executedand placed behind a protective data “fire wall” (603) for systemsecurity. The posted available offerings for the brokers are replicatedto another database outside the firewall, preferably in a DB2 format(67) again. This “outside” database is available for query by at leastone application server (68).

[0051] Also according to the preferred embodiment, a clustered pair ofapplication servers (68) are used to query the outside database (67) foravailable offerings for brokers. The application servers are providedrequests from the brokers via network dispatchers (69). The networkdispatchers (69) receive broker requests for offerings by a proxy server(600). Thus, the brokers may use their broker consoles (602), such asweb browser personal computers or wireless web browsers, to query theoutside database (67) via a computer network (601) such as the Internet.

[0052] The network dispatchers provide balanced loading to theapplication servers (68), and they provide for redirection of requeststo one of the application servers should the other application serverexperience a failure. After the brokers receive their offerings ofentitled materials or services on which they may bid via their brokerconsoles (602), they may post bids which are stored in the outsidedatabase (67).

[0053] The posted bids are then replicated from the outside database(67) to the inside database (66) behind the firewall. The LEI then movesthose bids, converts them from DB2 format to Lotus Notes format, andstores them in the IOS staging server (65). These bids are furtherreplicated from the Lotus Notes format in the IOS staging server (65) tothe IOS production server (62), where they then may be retrieved andreviewed by the traders using the trader consoles (61). Thus, the entireoffering-to-bid process is completed. The traders may then choose toaccept or reject each posted bid.

[0054] According to the preferred embodiment, the application servers(68) are web server hardware platforms, such as IBM RS6000 computersrunning the IBM AIX operating system, accompanied by the IBM WebSphereproduct. Java servlets are used to interact with the broker consolecomputers (602), which could be alternately realized in such technologyas Microsoft's Active Server Pages or Java server pages.

[0055] Further according to the preferred embodiment, the applicationservers are provided with communications capability to an authenticationserver (57) which may include lists of brokers and passwords againstwhich broker log-in attempts may be validated.

[0056] Thus, the system and methods disclosed including the preferredembodiment provide a capability to prepare offerings for brokers fromtraders such that the offerings contain only the information necessaryto convey an offering to a broker for product or service for which he isentitled. The preferred embodiment provides a robust and securearchitecture to insure that product offerings are made available only toentitled brokers, and that system failure will not result in loss ofavailability of offering and bidding collection services.

[0057] Turning to FIG. 7, the logical flow of the process to presentunsealed bids to a trader is shown. A trader logs on (71) which verifiesthe trader's identity and rights to access the system. The trader thenrequests all his posted bids (72). The IOS server then queries (73) adatabase for all bids which have been received and which are unsealed.In the preferred embodiment, the IOS database (74) contains recordswhich represent the collected bids from brokers. One field within theserecords may be a logical operator to indicate whether a bid is stillsealed or unsealed. That logical operator and field may be protectedfrom modification by the trader and system operations personnel, and mayonly be enabled to be changed by a system administrator or securityoperator with appropriate authorization.

[0058] Thus, as the bidding window is opened and bids are being activelycollected, the records produced and saved in the IOS database (74) willby default contain fields which indicate the bids are sealed. Upon theclosing of the bidding session or bidding time window, a systemadministrator or security operator may break the bid seals (77) bymodifying each logical operator in each record or by executing a batchprogram which modifies the logical operator in the fields of therecords.

[0059] In the preferred embodiment, the IOS server query (73) must onlyrequest posted bids from the IOS database server (74) which match thetrader's location and category codes and which have logical operators inthe records which indicate the bids are unsealed.

[0060] An alternative method for providing automatic unsealing of thebids is to provide a clock or timer input (75) to the IOS databaseserver (74). In this alternative embodiment, each record whichrepresents a collected bid may have a field in it indicating anexpiration time or date upon which the bid is automatically unsealed.When the bid is collected, the IOS database may either mark the bid assealed or unsealed, or the IOS server query (73) may simply query forall records for a particular trader matching that trader's location andcategory codes and which have expiration dates of the same time orbefore the actual time of the query (73). Using this alternativeembodiment, the bids automatically unseal themselves as the system timeelapses past the expiration dates stored in each record which representsa collective bid.

[0061] After the IOS server database is queried and all bids which areunsealed for a particular trader are retrieved, the IOS server willdeliver all found bids with broken seals (76). The trader then mayreview those unsealed bids and decide which bids to advance to orderfulfillment.

[0062] It will be understood by those skilled in the art and from theforegoing description that various modifications and changes may be madein the preferred embodiment of the present invention without departingfrom its spirit and scope. It is intended that this description is forpurposes of illustration only and should not be construed in a limitingsense. The scope of this invention should be defined by the followingclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A sales offering method for restricting access bytraders to collected online sealed bids in an online offering andbidding system, said method comprising the steps of: providing acomputer-readable bid repository of collected sealed bids and unsealedbids communicative to an online offering and bidding system; unsealingone or more sealed bids in said bid repository through a restrictedprocess; and presenting via a computer user interface said unsealed bidsto a trader thereby preventing presentation of bids which are sealed totraders.
 2. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step ofproviding a computer-readable bid repository comprises providing acomputer database in which each sealed bid and unsealed bid arerepresented by one or more database records.
 3. The method as set forthin claim 2 wherein said step of providing database records representingsealed bids and unsealed bids comprises providing database records whichinclude a field indicating a bid status as sealed or unsealed.
 4. Themethod as set forth in claim 2 wherein said step of providing databaserecords representing sealed bids and unsealed bids comprises providingdatabase records which include a field indicating a bid seal expirationtime.
 5. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step ofunsealing one or more sealed bids in said bid repository through arestricted process comprises providing a secure system administratorconsole and identification process which allows only an authorizedsystem administrator to change sealed bids to unsealed bids.
 6. Themethod as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of unsealing one ormore sealed bids in said bid repository through a restricted processcomprises: providing a bid seal expiration time parameter with eachsealed bids; providing a system clock or timer; comparing each bid sealexpiration time parameter with a current status of a system clock ortimer responsive; and determining that bids for which bid sealexpiration time parameters which are before or less than the currentstatus of a system clock or timer are unsealed bids.
 7. Acomputer-readable medium containing program code for a sales offeringcomputer system for restricting access by traders to collected onlinesealed bids in an online offering and bidding system, said program codewhen executed by a sales offering computer system causes the salesoffering computer system to perform the steps of: providing acomputer-readable bid repository of collected sealed bids and unsealedbids communicative to an online offering and bidding system; unsealingone or more sealed bids in said bid repository through a restrictedprocess; and presenting via a computer user interface said unsealed bidsto a trader thereby preventing presentation of bids which are sealed totraders.
 8. The computer-readable medium as set forth in claim 7 whereinsaid program code for providing a computer-readable bid repositorycomprises program code for providing a computer database in which eachsealed bid and unsealed bid are represented by one or more databaserecords.
 9. The computer-readable medium as set forth in claim 8 whereinsaid program code for providing database records representing sealedbids and unsealed bids comprises program code for providing databaserecords which include a field indicating a bid status as sealed orunsealed.
 10. The computer-readable medium as set forth in claim 8wherein said program code for providing database records representingsealed bids and unsealed bids comprises program code for providingdatabase records which include a field indicating a bid seal expirationtime.
 11. The computer-readable medium as set forth in claim 7 whereinsaid program code for unsealing one or more sealed bids in said bidrepository through a restricted process comprises program code forproviding a secure system administrator console and identificationprocess which allows only an authorized system administrator to changesealed bids to unsealed bids.
 12. The computer-readable medium as setforth in claim 7 wherein said program code for unsealing one or moresealed bids in said bid repository through a restricted processcomprises program code for causing the sales offering computer system toperform the steps of: providing a bid seal expiration time parameterwith each sealed bids; accessing or reading a system clock or timer;comparing each bid seal expiration time parameter with a current statusof a system clock or timer responsive; and determining that bids forwhich bid seal expiration time parameters which are before or less thanthe current status of a system clock or timer are unsealed bids.
 13. Asealed bid sales offering system in a computer network, said computernetwork enabling communications between said sales offering system andtrader consoles, said offering system comprising: a bid databasecontaining sealed bids and unsealed bids, said database accessible andqueriable by said sales offering system; a database query servercommunicative to said bid database for querying and retrieving unsealedbids from said bid database for presentation to a trader which meetcriteria indicating the bids are unsealed and intended for a trader; andan bid communicator for presenting said retrieved unsealed bids to atrader.
 14. The sealed bid sales offering system as set forth in claim13 wherein said sales offering system is a computer network server. 15.The sealed bid sales offering system as set forth in claim 14 whereinsaid computer network server is an Internet server.
 16. The sealed bidsales offering system as set forth in claim 14 wherein said computernetwork server is a Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) server.
 17. Thesealed bid sales offering system as set forth in claim 13 wherein saidsales offering system is adapted for communications with trader consolecomputers which are web browser devices.
 18. The system as set forth inclaim 13 wherein said database query server is adapted to retrieveunsealed bids from said bid database for presentation to a trader whichmeet criteria including a match with a trader's location code.
 19. Thesystem as set forth in claim 13 wherein said database query server isadapted to retrieve unsealed bids from said bid database forpresentation to a trader which meet criteria including a match with atrader's goods category code.
 20. The system as set forth in claim 13further comprising a restricted access administrator consolecommunicative with said bid database for allowing conversion of sealedbids to unsealed bids.
 21. The system as set forth in claim 13 furthercomprising a system clock or timer for use by said database query servercommunicative to determine which seals of sealed bids have expired as acriteria for retrieving unsealed bids.